Unmanned Aerial Vehicle in the Aviation System: An Overview of the Safety Risk Management Approaches

Abstract

The global transportation sector is faced with a great number of innovative solutions that are expected to make transportation more efficient, sustainable, and environmentally friendly. Such a solution is the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) which are recognized as a leading innovation that simultaneously provides various business opportunities and luxury to humanity. However, this innovation brings high risk to the manned aviation industry, and also to third parties on the ground. As aviation is the most vulnerable industry, since UAVs and aircraft share the same airspace and therefore potentially catastrophic consequences if collisions occurred, it is important to learn how to manage those safety risks. The aim of this paper is to present an overview of the different approaches for safety risk management for threats that arise from UAVs operations in the aviation system, and to discuss included steps, methods, and associated challenges. Some of the methods are proposed through examples for which purpose they are adequate. The paper concludes by highlighting current advanced approaches in the analyzed field, developed by aviation regulatory organizations.